It works backwards, doesn’t it O God?Or, at least, counter to the way life usually is for us.Instead of going faster to catch up we are to slow down if we are to find You.Slow down in order to catch up…To the grace which surrounds us:And to the awareness of life as a gift which grounds us;And to a sense of Your abiding presence which sustains us.We are to slow down in order to catch up.

So, in this moment may we do our best to do just that.Slow down and be quiet enough to listen;Deeply and intently listen;So that the still, small voice of Your Spirit has a chance to be heard amidst the clamor of our lives and world.And, we would breathe deeply…Giving thanks for the gift of life which we know in this moment which, in the end, is the only moment we every really have. Amen.

O God,You call us together that we might find strength and hope and direction with and from each other. And then You throw open the doors and send us out to be Your people and Your presence in the world You continue to love so much. To be…Light in the midst of darkness:Hope in the face of despair:Compassion where the harshness of life overwhelms.May we continue to strive to do and to be just that as we do our best to follow in the way of Jesus.Amen.

So we pray today not with our eyes closed, But instead with our eyes wide open.Look around this room.Space made sacred by the hopes and dreams and prayers of others;And, now made sacred again by our hopes and our dreams and our prayers.

If you want take the hand of the person next to you. Allow that hand… That touch…To be a very human reminder that we are bound together in our care for each other and our concern for each other and in who we are to each other in the household of God. And as you look around at each other remember this:“You have never met a mere mortal.” C.S. Lewis wrote.No mere mortals here.Nor perfect people either.Just you and me…Each of us and all of usVery humanDoing our very best to find out way through life as it is for us.Doing our best to live up to our daily responsibilitiesAnd to hold onto God’s grand dream for us and for all.

And, so it is that we pray, O God… Linking our lives to Your compassion and Your care. Remembering all whom we have named and all that we have named:And so many more and so much more.Please, O God.And, Thank you.

I found this version of what Christian’s call The Lord’s Prayer as I was flipping through a file this morning. It comes from the Book of Common Prayer of New Zealand. It serves as a helpful reminder that old images and ancient languages can be reframed and given a new voice with which to speak to us today. Maybe it can be a prayer for us today.

Eternal SpiritEarth-Maker, Pain-Bearer, Life-Giver,Source of all that is and that shall be,Father and Mother of us all.Loving God, in whom is heaven.The hallowing of your name echos through the universe!The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the earth!Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.With the bread we need for today, feed us.In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.In times of temptation and test, spare us.From the grip of all that is evil, free us.For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,Now and forever.Amen.

Maybe the best thing we can do right now, O God, is to stop;Or, at least, to slow down.To take one deep breath.And then another.Allowing our best dreams and bravest hopes;To catch up with the rest of our lives and our living.Maybe the best thing we can do right now is to slow down enoughThat we might pay attention to this moment;Carved out of the busyness and business of our lives;Set aside and made sacred because we pay attention to it;And, open our hearts to an awareness of Your presence in it.This moment…This day…Not promised to us;But a moment and a day filled with Your presence and promise, O God.

Believing that to be true…Then, in this moment our lives become our prayer and our prayers take shape in our living as we remember those whom we have named.And, not just those others, O God…But also ourselves.Where there is brokenness may we turn in the direction of wholeness and hope.Where there is hatred and violence, may we turn in the direction of peace.Where there is joy and fulfillment, may we turn in the direction of gratitude.Where there are dreams stretching out to embrace tomorrow, may we turn in the direction of meaning and purpose and Your grand dream meant for us and for all.

Maybe our prayers are our practice for living, O God;A way for us to push beyond the small circle of our own lives;Inching our way outwardUntil the circle of our lives intersect and overlap the lives of another and another and Another beyond that.Care embracing concern.Strength overlaying sorrow.Compassion intersecting need.Gratitude multiplied.If that is so, may our lives follow where our prayers first lead.